Stair - Wiktionary

See also: Stair

English

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 stair on Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English steire, staire, stayre, stayer, steir, steyre, steyer, from Old English stǣġer (“stair, staircase”), from Proto-West Germanic *staigri, from Proto-Germanic *staigriz (“stairs, scaffolding”), from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to walk, proceed, march, climb”).

Cognate with Dutch steiger (“a stair, step, wharf, pier, scaffolding”), Middle Low German steiger, steir (“scaffolding”), German Low German Steiger (“a scaffold; trestle”). Related to Old English āstǣġan (“to ascend, go up, embark”), Old English stīġan (“to go, move, reach; ascend, mount, go up, spring up, rise; scale”), German Stiege (“a flight of stairs”). More at sty.

Pronunciation

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• (General American) IPA(key): /stɛɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /stɛə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA(key): /steː/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /stiə/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /steə/
• (Scotland) IPA(key): /steɹ/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /stɜː(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: stare; steer (cheer–chair merger); stir (fair–fur merger)

Noun

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stair (plural stairs)

1. A single step in a staircase. Synonym: step
2. A series of steps; a staircase.
   • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …

Usage notes

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• Stairs and stair are used to refer to a single staircase, mostly interchangeably in the UK.

Synonyms

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• (Cockney rhyming slang) apples and pears

Derived terms

[edit] Terms derived from stair (noun)

• above-stairs
• downstairs
• forestair
• missing stair
• screw stair
• staircase
• stairgate, stair gate
• stair glider
• stair hall
• stair lift
• stairmaster
• stair railings
• stair rod
• stairs
• stair-step
• stair-stepping
• stairway
• stairwell
• stair-wire
• stair wire
• upstairs

Translations

[edit] single step

Altai: Southern Altai: баскыш (baskïš) Arabic: Egyptian Arabic: سلمة f (sillima) Bashkir: баҫҡыс (baśqıs), баҫма (baśma) Belarusian: прысту́пка f (prystúpka) Bulgarian: стъпало (bg) n (stǎpalo) Catalan: esglaó (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 臺階 / 台阶 (zh) (táijiē) Finnish: porras (fi) French: marche (fr) f Georgian: საფეხური (sapexuri) German: Stufe (de) f, Treppenstufe (de) f Greek: σκαλί (el) n (skalí), σκαλοπάτι (el) n (skalopáti) Hungarian: lépcsőfok (hu) Icelandic: trappa, þrep (is) Ido: grado (io) Ingrian: trappu Italian: scalino (it) m Japanese: 石段 (ja) (いしだん, ishidan) (on stone steps), 段 (ja) (だん, dan) Latin: gradus (la) m Lithuanian: laiptas m Norwegian: trinn n Pannonian Rusyn: ґарадича f (garadiča) Persian: پله (fa) (pelle) Polish: stopień (pl) m Portuguese: degrau (pt) m Punjabi: پَوڑی f (pauṛī) Romanian: treaptă (ro) Russian: ступе́нька (ru) f (stupénʹka), ступе́нь (ru) f (stupénʹ) Scottish Gaelic: staidhre f Spanish: peldaño (es) m Swedish: trappsteg (sv) n Turkish: merdiven (tr) sg Ukrainian: схі́дець m (sxídecʹ), схо́динка f (sxódynka) Zazaki: gam (diq)

series of steps

Altai: Southern Altai: тепкиш (tepkiš), баскыш (baskïš) Arabic: سَلَالِم m pl (salālim) Armenian: աստիճաններ (astičanner), սանդուղք (hy) (sanduġkʻ), (colloquially) փիլաքյան (pʻilakʻyan) Aromanian: scarã f Bashkir: баҫҡыс (baśqıs) Basque: eskailera Belarusian: ле́свіца f (ljésvica), усхо́ды pl (usxódy) Bulgarian: стълбище n (stǎlbište) Burmese: လှေကား (my) (hleka:) Cebuano: hagdanan Chinese: Mandarin: 樓梯 / 楼梯 (zh) (lóutī) Czech: schody, schodiště (cs) Danish: trappe (da) Dutch: trap (nl) Esperanto: ŝtuparo Estonian: trepp (et) Faroese: trappa f Finnish: portaat (fi), portaikko (fi) French: escalier (fr), volée (fr) f Georgian: კიბე (ka) (ḳibe) German: Treppe (de) f, Stiege (de) f (Austria) Greek: σκάλα (el) f (skála), κλίμακα (el) f (klímaka) Greenlandic: majuartarfiit pl Hebrew: מדרגות, מדרגה (he) f (madregá) Higaonon: hagadan Hungarian: lépcső (hu), lépcsősor (hu) Icelandic: stigi (is), tröppur pl, þrep (is) pl Ido: eskalero (io) Igbo: ǹkwà (ig) Indonesian: tangga (id) Ingrian: traput Iranun: tuak Italian: scala (it) f Japanese: 階段 (ja) (かいだん, kaidan) Kazakh: баспалдақ (baspaldaq) Khmer: កាំជណ្ដើរ (kam cŭəndaə) Korean: 계단 (ko) (gyedan) Kyrgyz: тепкич (ky) (tepkic) Lao: ບັນໄດ (ban dai) Latvian: kāpnes (lv) m Lithuanian: laiptinė f, laiptai m pl Livonian: strepīd pl Macedonian: ска́ла f (skála) Malay: Jawi: تڠݢ (ms) Rumi: tangga (ms) Māori: arawhata, arapiki Mongolian: шат (mn) (šat) Norwegian: trapp (no) m or f Occitan: escalièr (oc) Persian: پلکان (fa) (pellekân) Portuguese: escada (pt) f Punjabi: پَوڑیاں f pl (pauṛeyāṉ) Romanian: scară (ro) f Romansh: stgala f Russian: ле́стница (ru) f (léstnica), ступе́ньки f pl (stupénʹki) Sami: Northern Sami: please add this translation if you can Sardinian: iscala f, issaba f, scaba f, iscalera Scottish Gaelic: staidhre f Serbo-Croatian: stubište (sh) f Slovak: schodisko, schody m pl Spanish: escalera (es) f Swedish: trappa (sv) Thai: บันได (th) (ban-dai), กระได (th) (grà-dai) Turkish: merdiven (tr) Ottoman Turkish: نردبان (nerdiban) Ukrainian: схо́ди (uk) pl (sxódy) Venetan: scała f Vietnamese: cầu thang (vi)

See also

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• ladder
• landing
• scaffold

Anagrams

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• ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, Sitar, Trias, airts, arist, astir, sitar, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar

Irish

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Alternative forms

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• sdair (obsolete)[1]

Etymology

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From Old Irish stoir, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā).[2] Doublet of stór.

Pronunciation

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• (Munster, Connacht) IPA(key): /sˠt̪ˠaɾʲ/[3]
• (Ulster) IPA(key): /sˠt̪ˠæɾʲ/[4]

Noun

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stair f (genitive singular staire, nominative plural startha)

1. history
2. account, story
3. (literary) repute, fame

Declension

[edit] Declension of stair (second declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative stair startha vocative a stair a startha genitive staire startha dative stair startha forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an stair na startha genitive na staire na startha dative leis an stairdon stair leis na startha

Derived terms

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• bréagstair
• stairiúil

References

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1. ^ “stair”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
2. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “stair”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
3. ^ “stair”, in Irish Pronunciation Database, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026
4. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906), A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 75, page 32

Further reading

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• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “stair”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “stair”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “stair”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026